


Afterward

by ElAlmaDelMar



Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [31]
Category: One Piece
Genre: AO3 you still can't make me tag him as Vinsmoke, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, alpha sanji, i will die on this hill, omega zoro, pure damn fluff, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27315295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElAlmaDelMar/pseuds/ElAlmaDelMar
Summary: Zoro drifted awake, enjoying the heavy lassitude of his body after five days of burning, agitated need. He feltgood— relaxed, comfortable, drowsy. His heats were always brutal, but now that he had a mate to see him through them, they weren't a near-week of suffering in solitude. Instead, it was time for the two of them. He would give himself over to his instincts and to his alpha's care, and while some part of him grumbled that enduring his cycle in solitude, in meditation and exercise, strengthened him, he knew the truth. This was better.A/B/O/tober Day 31: Post-cycle care
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Sanji
Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947415
Comments: 10
Kudos: 182
Collections: A/B/O/tober 2020





	Afterward

It was over. 

Zoro drifted awake, enjoying the heavy lassitude of his body after five days of burning, agitated need. He felt _good_ — relaxed, comfortable, drowsy. His heats were always brutal, but now that he had a mate to see him through them, they weren't a near-week of suffering in solitude. Instead, it was time for the two of them. He would give himself over to his instincts and to his alpha's care, and while some part of him grumbled that enduring his cycle in solitude, in meditation and exercise, strengthened him, he knew the truth. This was better. 

As he came fully awake, though, he realized — solitude was exactly what was happening right now. The cycle cabin on the _Thousand Sunny_ was small — little more than a bed for two, a minifridge, and a tiny head. There wasn't room for anyone, even a too-skinny cook, to hide. And the other half of the bed was empty, the cook's lean weight nowhere to be found. 

It was exceedingly unlike the cook to just ditch, he thought, sitting up with a frown. Had something happened while he was asleep? Normally he didn't sleep through anything he didn't want to, but his slumber at the end of heat was something else, deep and unshakeable — it had to be, with how much energy he burned going through it. Had they been attacked, with him down here dead to the world? 

Before he could get too agitated, the door opened soundlessly, and Sanji slipped in — and paused, blinking at Zoro. 

"Ah. You're awake." He had a covered tray in his hands — a large one — and the scent that leaked out from under the cover made Zoro's stomach growl like thunder. 

"Wondered where you got to," Zoro answered, letting his tension leak away. No crises, nothing he should have been awake for, then. The cook had clearly taken time to shower — his hair was still damp, and he smelled clean, as though he hadn't spent the last five days and nights feeding Zoro's burning need. 

"You need to eat." It was an answer, in Sanji's indirect way. He paused, then wrinkled his nose. "And shower." 

"I'll get to it." Showering sounded like entirely too much work right now, but Zoro _was_ hungry. It was hard to keep up much of an appetite for food while he was in heat; Sanji was an attentive alpha and fanatical about making sure Zoro ate, but he never could stomach more than a light snack at any time. 

"You had better. Can't have you stinking up the ship," the cook answered, but even as he did, he laid the tray down on the bed and lifted the lid. 

Steam and the scent of fresh-cooked fish hit Zoro's nostrils. Rice, fish, greens — a simple meal, nothing heavily spiced or elaborately seasoned, with two glasses of water beside it. Exactly what he needed after a heat, and he wasn't going to be shy about eating every bite. Even if he did have to complain a little, just to make sure Sanji knew he wasn't going all mushy. 

"No booze? Come on, cook, this isn't even a meal." 

"No booze til you have real food in you," Sanji pronounced like a death sentence. "I know better and you know better. Eat up, mossy." 

He didn't need to say it twice, either. Zoro dug in, taking barely enough time to taste the food before he swallowed it. And, yes, drained both glasses of water. He _did_ need the fluids (although even a small beer would have been preferable to plain water). 

He was halfway through the food before his brain caught up with his instincts, and he looked up at Sanji with a frown. "Did you eat? You were just as busy as I was the last few days." 

It earned him a snort. "'Busy,' you call that. And yes, I ate while I was cooking. I'm fine. I wasn't the one in heat." But despite the stern tone, he had settled himself on the bed beside Zoro, so that their shoulders pressed together; for all his pretense, he seemed as loath to let go of the intimacy of the last several days as Zoro was. 

Zoro had never actually seen Sanji eat more than little mouthfuls to taste-test while he was cooking, but he wasn't in the mood for that argument right now. Even having eaten, he still felt drowsy in that post-heat sort of way; all he really wanted to do was drag his mate back down and lie there with him for a while. Maybe have sex, maybe not, but burrow into the heavy, contented glow and let the world worry about itself. 

As he finished, Sanji leaned over and pressed his cheek against the side of Zoro's head, rubbing in scent and affection. "Better?" 

"Better," Zoro admitted in a grunt. "I'll be even better when you let me have some booze." 

"After you shower." But Sanji's tone was impish, and when Zoro looked at him questioningly, he added, "What kind of caring mate would I be if I didn't tend to your cleanup, too? Come on." 

Oh. Showering was one thing; showering with Sanji was another. "Thought you already got clean," Zoro said, less in protest than in surprise. His alpha was so rarely indulgent with himself. 

"I had to scrub up before I was fit to go out," Sanji admitted, "but it's different from really getting clean. And I want to pamper you a little, marimo. This was a bad one." 

It had been. Heats were always rough, but this one had felt as though it would turn Zoro inside out before he was sated. Still, he'd been dealing with heats since he was thirteen. "You know I can take care of myself," he grumbled, just to make sure Sanji didn't think Zoro was going all soft now that they were mated. "I don't need you babying me." 

"Of course you don't." Sanji snorted. "Just because you don't _need_ it doesn't mean you won't enjoy it." 

"You're the one who likes fancy bath shit—" 

"And you're the one who likes my hands all over you." The cook's grin was somewhere between shit-eating mockery and bright-eyed happiness. "Come on. I promise not to use anything smelly on you." 

"Fine, fine." 

And the cook was as good as his word. Instead of using the cycle room's cramped shower — perfectly adequate to the purpose, although tight for two — Zoro pulled on his pants and they hustled through the main areas of the ship, up to the bath above the library. It was still early hours, Zoro noted as they went, barely after dawn; the rest of the ship was still evidently asleep. Fine by him. He probably _was_ a little whiffy after five days of nothing but sex and sleep. 

Once there, Sanji set to work scrubbing every inch of Zoro's body, brisk without being businesslike, leavening his work with affectionate touches. It was, in a funny way, almost the reverse of scenting; instead of making Zoro smell more, he was making him smell less, but that the cleanliness came from his hands made it all the same something of a mark. _Sanji was here_ , leaving fresh-scrubbed skin and hair in his wake. 

Not that Zoro was going to complain. The cook's fingers rubbed his scalp in a luxurious massage as he worked shampoo through his hair, and he found himself purely basking in his alpha's attention. If he didn't want to, he didn't need to lift a finger; Sanji was everywhere, touching him, scrubbing him, cleaning him. Grooming him, just like a good mate ought to. 

And when he was clean (and Sanji had given himself a quick rinse as well, just to be sure), they settled in the soaking tub, hot enough to force all Zoro's pores open and his muscles — sore after five days of exertion, and not the kind he generally trained for! — to relax. 

"Mm." He leaned his head on Sanji's shoulder, all but purring in contentment, and Sanji leaned his cheek against Zoro's head, rubbing his scent in lightly. 

"Good, isn't it?" 

"Yah. Hate to admit it, cook, but you're good to me." 

"That's what being your mate is about. I'm not gonna half-ass it." Sanji's arm wrapped around Zoro, thumb resting lightly on the matebite scarred into the meat of his shoulder. 

It was rare to feel this kind of open affection for each other — but if it was ever going to come, it would be now, after the rush and intensity of heat faded away, when Zoro's mind came back but his body remembered Sanji caring for him through thick and thin. 

"Hey, love-cook…" He searched for the words, knowing how much this kind of thing meant to his alpha. "... I'm happy, you know. Like this." A pause. "With you." He tiled his head to look up at Sanji's face.

And — there it was. His openness was rewarded with a broad, bright smile. Damn, but the cook was a beautiful man, even with damp hair plastered down around his face. Maybe the most beautiful like this, unguarded and relaxed. 

"I love you too, mossball." Sanji understood him. That was what mattered above all. They were on the same wavelength and together, they were unstoppable.

**Author's Note:**

> And here we are at the end of October! I can't believe it's over now... what am I gonna do with myself? Still, I'm really happy to have made it through the whole month. A _huge_ thank you to all my kind and enthusiastic readers whose comments and support have helped me keep my momentum going! Your enthusiasm and feedback have been a real delight for me. Thank you to all of you! 
> 
> It feels fitting to end the month on aftercare. Just like Zoro, I feel like I'm coming down from something kind of intense and not always comfortable, but good and valuable nonetheless. 
> 
> Hopefully y'all will stick around for my long-running fics, By Any Other Name and Manhood. Not to mention, the additional chapters coming for Togetherness and Going Stealth! I've sure got plenty of writing to do in November and onward. 
> 
> Come chat with me on my [Discord server](https://discord.gg/SWVYBBn)!


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